A PREGNANT woman has become the third Queenslander to test positive for Zika virus this year.
Queensland Health say the woman, from the southeast region, was diagnosed on Tuesday after returning from overseas where she contracted the virus.
The department hasn’t revealed any other details about the woman, including which countries she had visited.
Thirteen people have been diagnosed with the virus in Queensland since 2014, although there has been no local transmission of the virus.
A woman, who was originally diagnosed as having an “unspecified flavivirus infection” after returning from El Salvador in Central America in December, was retested earlier this month and it was confirmed she too had the virus.
Another “probable” but unconfirmed case was also reported in Queensland this year.
Health authorities have said they expect more people to be diagnosed with Zika virus as further detection systems are rolled out.
Those who are infected are instructed not to travel to north Queensland, where the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in that area could bite them and begin transmitting the virus locally.
Zika virus most often only causes a mild illness, though it has been linked to microcephaly, a neurological disorder in which babies are born with undersized heads.
Brazil has reported nearly 4000 suspected cases of microcephaly and the World Health Organisation has declared the virus an international health emergency.
Queensland’s chief health officer, Dr Jeanette Young, has urged pregnant Queensland women not to travel to places where there have been Zika outbreaks.